The present invention relates generally to computer user input systems, methods, and devices, and more particularly, to systems, methods, and devices for interpreting manual touch gestures as input to a touch screen for manipulating computer-generated data visualizations such as column charts, bar charts, and pie charts.
Various types of user input devices currently exist for performing various operations in a computing device. Such input devices include, as examples, keyboards, mice, trackballs, switches, touch screens, and other types of input devices. Some of the operations that can be accomplished with these user input devices include moving a cursor, selecting content displayed on a display screen, scrolling, panning, zooming, and other operations.
Increasingly, computer applications are receiving user input through a touch screen (also known as a “touchscreen” or a “touch-sensitive display”). This increase has been driven in part by the wide availability of relatively inexpensive portable personal computing devices such as tablet computers and mobile phones that incorporate touch screens into their form factors. Touch screens are employed in many different types of electronic devices to display graphics and text, and to provide a user interface through which a user may interact with the electronic devices. A touch screen includes a touch panel for detecting/sensing contact on the touch screen and a display for displaying graphics, text, and video. The touch panel can use any number of known technologies for detecting/sensing contact on the touch screen such as resistive, capacitive, optical, or other known technologies.
Touch screens are becoming more popular for use as displays and as user input devices on electronic devices. Unfortunately, users are currently unable to interact with and manipulate certain types of data in meaningful and natural ways using touch gestures as input to a touch screen. More particularly, users are currently unable to interact with and manipulate data visualizations in meaningful and natural ways using touch gestures.
Accordingly, there is a need for more efficient, user-friendly, and natural procedures for interacting with and manipulating data visualizations using touch gestures as input to a touch screen.